We were in talks with the city to work out a plan to make the show run smoother and not be a burden on the neighbors like traffic control, porta-potties, trash collectors, police presents, etc. Now none if it is needed.

People choose to live in a we're better than you neighborhood to avoid 'those types'. The price you pay may come at a price you aren't willing to pay. You really have no room to biatch being as you are an adult and you know the score. I don't live in your kind of neighborhood. Never want to be like you. I know I'm a dooshbag and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

The Mason Ohio display became a problem because there is already a serious traffic problem out here.

I grew up in this area, and while some of the roads have gone to 5 lane systems, a large percentage of them are still essentially two lane country roads that are supporting 40 years worth of suburban sprawl.

Mostly the problem is that there are three counties that converge in the area, and they all have different priorities. It is also non-incorporated so the fire department is volunteer.

The main fire station/ambulance is on the same road that leads into the sub-division where the huge Mason Christmas lights display was located, and every night from Thanksgiving to New Years it was bumper to bumper traffic trying to get in there.

Because that station dispatches to some nearby HUGE retail areas... wrecks would sit for 30 or 40 minutes before fire or ambulance could get there because of the congestion.

It was just common sense that it had to be moved somewhere else... no BS involved.

But don't forget, he owns his place, not like some stupid renter. You real estate zombies are truly moronic. If it isn't city hall telling you what you can't do, it's the neighbors. Pay your taxes! It's your house! You own it!

/the snowflakes, they keep multiplying.//I'm with you Krispy, I'd never, ever, in my entire life, live in a place which was filled with so many helicoptering, worry-wart urbanites.

Four years later, the Girard "castle" still causes traffic slow-downs as people slow down to gawp at it. Hell, I've heard the Girard family's had people they don't know just drop in out of the blue and ask for a tour of their home. That's balls.

I'm betting- were there an HOA in my neighborhood- they'd have been happy to let the Girards remain homeless.

/the snowflakes, they keep multiplying.//I'm with you Krispy, I'd never, ever, in my entire life, live in a place which was filled with so many helicoptering, worry-wart urbanites.

You would rather lives be endangered (and they were, this is no hypothetical, the EMS/Fire crews could not get TO the station, let alone get to the scene of a crash) than to impinge upon the right of someone to turn your street into a parking lot?

/the snowflakes, they keep multiplying.//I'm with you Krispy, I'd never, ever, in my entire life, live in a place which was filled with so many helicoptering, worry-wart urbanites.

You would rather lives be endangered (and they were, this is no hypothetical, the EMS/Fire crews could not get TO the station, let alone get to the scene of a crash) than to impinge upon the right of someone to turn your street into a parking lot?

You are a serious asshole.

Mommy! The non-hypothetical fireman can't get past the flashing Christmas lights! Little Anastasia is about to lose some glitter from her new sweater!

Give me a break, junior. Your hysterical fingerpointing about a suburban "eyesore" was exposed from post one under my radar tab "CONCERN TROLL" and I have been lawlin' ever since.

Junior?

Wow. Thanks.

Have not been called that in at least 30 years.

And yeah, I have a concern. I'll admit it freely. My mom was a paramedic, and she saw quite a few people die because the ambulance crew could not get places on time due to stupid shiat.

You keep playing that "snowflake" card. I actually hate HOA's with a pretty active passion, but every once in a while they can be useful and to a good end.

Shadow Blasko:because the ambulance crew could not get places on time due to stupid shiat.

Couldn't get to my house from a block away during Extreme Makeover. And I had pencil-necked security guards hassling my wife for taking the dog out on my own back yard. All this went on for a week or so.

Bear in mind, I live in a much, much smaller town. If Main Street is blocked? You're taking a thrice-as-long detour through the surrounding state forest.

/I have serious tears for the deaths caused by the growing threat of offensively awesome Christmas lights.//You should take that tearjerker to your local, high-class school and tell all of the local urbanites about the deathly dangers of allowing traffic congestion in suburban areas. Or write a new "Derpy Potter" series about the notion, to sort of raise awareness.

Do you think that, just maybe, you could try to be a teeny tiny little bit less of a douchebag? It's very distracting to scroll past and might cause a bottleneck in the thread.

RockofAges:Personally I think we should just kill fun and get it over with. That guy is an asshole anyways, and he costs precious money.

The synchronized show is one thing. North of me here in CT, in the almost-as-small town of Ballouville, there used to be a guy we used to call "Mr. Christmas". His name was Whipple, and he was known for several states around as having one of the largest, most extravagant collections of Christmas lights and decorations anyone had ever seen.

He just kinda... built it up over years and years. And then, when people started to take notice, he basically turned his home into a theme park. For many, many years as a kid, taking a trip to this little miniature, DIY Christmas Theme Park was just something you did- something a lot of area families did, in fact.

Good thing HOAs weren't in that equation. They'd have Bah-Humbugged that square between the eyes from 500 yards away.

Commercial lighting display provider sets up demonstration display in residential area, attracting thousands of onlookers and causing serious disturbance and annoyance to neighbours. Neighbours take action to have the advertisement moved to a more appropriate area.

Erm, so what? Seems like a perfectly sensible use of HOA restrictions. It's not as if they even twisted an old rule to fit - they introduced a new rule, democratically, to deal with the problem.

Bunch of dried up old coonts were the ones biatching to the HOA, I guarantee it.

Since you're the first HOA basher consider this:

I've been involved with thousands of real estate closings over a 25+ year banking career and many of those closings were transactions where the home buyer was buying in a sub-division that included an HOA. Never once have I seen a gun held to the purchasers head that saw them forced to complete the transaction. Most were well educated and all could read. All were made aware of the existence of the HOA by the closing attorney or me. All received a copy of the Covenants and Restrictions that were attached to their Deed.

NOT ONE EVER READ THEM PRIOR TO THE CLOSING THAT I RECALL.

Bottom line is that joining a HOA is a voluntary act. I have zero sympathy for 99% of the complainers. What you get from a HOA has value to you as a home owner whether you're smart enough to recognize it or not.

I've heard that in some areas of the country (particularly out West), it's pretty much impossible to find a home that doesn't belong to some sort of an HOA.

Doesn't seem so far-fetched to me, although I don't know if this area was such a case. Seems to me that there are situations where- if you'd like to live somewhere in a 200 mile radius- living outside an HOA is very probably not optional. If that is the case, why would you bat an eyelash at that clause in the contract?

Also, the guy isn't complaining, near as I can tell. So there's no one for you to have sympathy for in the first place here.

RockofAges:Personally I think we should just kill fun and get it over with. That guy is an asshole anyways, and he costs precious money.

Yes! We have taken the wrong path, people. We must return to our Puritan roots. Anyone displaying holiday decorations more than a week before or after said holiday will be pilloried. Any store displaying Christmas decorations before Black Friday shall be burnt to the ground, and the earth upon which it was built shall be salted.

jmr61:Bottom line is that joining a HOA is a voluntary act. I have zero sympathy for 99% of the complainers. What you get from a HOA has value to you as a home owner whether you're smart enough to recognize it or not.

There are two issues with HOAs: when the covenants and restrictions change after the purchase. In fact that's what happened here. Judd's display was permissible under HOA rules until the HOA made a change this year targeted at one homeowner.

I don't necessarily disagree with the HOA in this case, especially if there were issues around property damage and safety, but personal vendettas get waged through HOAs all the time.

Second, there are certain cities that force developers to form HOAs so that maintenance burdens are removed from the city (common area lawns, snow removal, etc). In those areas, it's nearly impossible for someone in the middle or lower-middle class to own a home outside of an HOA. In those areas, you can't call it completely voluntary.

I agree that in a majority of cases, people get what's coming to them - you don't really own a home in an HOA, and they should damned well know it. But it's not always cut and dried. I wouldn't even put it at 99% of the time.

orbister:Commercial lighting display provider sets up demonstration display in residential area, attracting thousands of onlookers and causing serious disturbance and annoyance to neighbours. Neighbours take action to have the advertisement moved to a more appropriate area.

Erm, so what? Seems like a perfectly sensible use of HOA restrictions. It's not as if they even twisted an old rule to fit - they introduced a new rule, democratically, to deal with the problem.

SkunkWerks:'ve heard that in some areas of the country (particularly out West

Virginia Beach is a geographically large city. In the 70s and 80s, they limited high density development to "strategic growth areas" to prevent sprawl and preserve farm land. If you wanted to build outside of it, you had to have a minimum of 10 acres or something like that. Within the strategic growth areas, they mandated HOAs.

HOAs are good for the city, because they offload maintenance cost from the city, and in many cases they are good for the homeowners because the services are much more responsive to individuals. My dad's little area of Green Run is primarily a dump of lower middle class people, but they have 4 pools, a bunch of other common use facilities, and the HOA fees are ridiculously low.

But for the middle class and lower middle class in VB, HOA membership is pretty much a mandatory part of home ownership.

Sorry about that. The DIY nature of the site matches the original display (which has died with Mervin, more or less). What can I say here? But really. This was a fixture in the area for something like, 20-30 years. Guy built little chapels and outbuildings to showcase all the decorations. He was certainly a bit tweaked, but it was a fun experience. Man was something of a pimp, too, as I recall. Very popular with the ladies or some such.

The community didn't revile him, they celebrated him.

And these people are whinging because of a thousand people over a couple weeks? I guess when you're that bored you can find anything to complain about.

I couldn't find a good video, but they have been doing it for the past few years. It goes on for few hours a night starting in November and runs into the first week of January. They play blocks of music, so 30 minutes might be classic Christmas music, the next 30 will be from Christmas shows (Charlie Brown, The Grinch, etc...) and the next will be music from TSO, etc....

/and like all good Appalachian people....they just leave the lights strung up all year :D

Pinko_Commie:We were in talks with the city to work out a plan to make the show run smoother and not be a burden on the neighbors like traffic control, porta-potties, trash collectors, police presents, etc. Now none if it is needed.

some dude out in the country without a homeowner's association should hire this dude to put a wicked display on his house instead. if he has a big yard, he can charge people a buck to park their cars there to watch the show. its a win-win.